{TABLE} Musical Offering ............. Bach {/TABLE} BACH'S Musical Offering was the outcome of a visit in 1747 to the Prussian court of Frederick II, where the composer's son, Carl Philip Emanuel, was employed. The encounter was notable enough to be picked up by newspapers in Berlin, Leipzig, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Magdeburg, and "the famous Capellmeister Bach of Leipzig" was himself particularly impressed with the "exceedingly beautiful" theme which the king had presented to him.
Bach's encounter with the "royal theme", as published in his Musical Offering, extended to its use in two fugues (the "ricercars", one in three parts, one in six); a sonata for flute (the king's own instrument), violin and continuo; and a set of diverse canons. It amounts in total to around an hour of music.
Complete performances are rare, and have remained generally the province of ensembles, reflecting the fact that, as The New Grove puts its, the piece is in effect a compendium in three sections" which shows Bach elaborating on the theme supplied to him by Frederick the Great in every imaginable way for an ensemble of up to three instruments".
The organ, too with its multiplicity of keyboards, is a viable medium, and at last night's recital in St Michael's, Dun Laoghaire, the gargantuan task of a one man performance was undertaken by Fergal Caulfield.
He's a solid, reliable performer, fully up to the considerable technical demands of the Musical Offering as an unbroken sequence in the context of a concert. His approach was, if anything, a bit too evenly weighted and reverential, as if in fear of lightening or leavening the learned contrapuntal weavings of the great Bach.
The organ arrangement he used (which was not identified in the programme) yields some odd terminations to the canons, which were printed by Bach in "puzzle" form; more musical suggested solutions are now readily available in print. Also, the chosen order broke up Bach's groupings to end rather weakly with the "Canon perpetuus"; the absence of any real culmination is quite a serious consideration, given the long playing time.
Yet, even given these reservations, one cannot hut he grateful for an opportunity of hearing this showcase of Bach's contrapuntal mastery in its entirety. The best moments, particularly the "Fuga canonica", were among the most memorable I've heard from this very able organist.
